Making a New Friend

Mom brushed my hair gently and tied a ribbon in it before she caught my gaze in the mirror. “You look awfully grumpy this morning,” she said cheerily to my reflection.

“That’s because I am grumpy,” I replied, scrunching up my face so my lower lip stuck out in a frown.

Mom turned me around and knelt in front of me, looking me in the eye. “You will make friends in this ward. Don’t worry!”

“But, Mom, I liked our old ward! I liked my old friends! Why did we have to move, anyway?” I felt tears sting my eyes.

“Because of Daddy’s job!” a voice piped in helpfully.

My younger sister Alison peeked into the bathroom from the hallway. She smiled her biggest smile—a smile so big that it showed the gaps where her two front teeth were missing and made her eyes disappear into little half-moons. I scowled at her.

“That’s right,” Mom said to her. Alison beamed.

“But I don’t have any friends here,” I said to Mom, ignoring my sister.

“You’ve still got me!” Alison grinned at me from the doorway.

“Great.” I rolled my eyes.

Alison frowned for a few seconds and then said, “We’re best friends!” She ran off laughing before I could shout back at her that we were not best friends.

Later that day I looked glumly at all the people in sacrament meeting. I didn’t know one person in this new ward! My family had been here for only a few days. “Please, Heavenly Father,” I silently prayed, “help me make one new friend today.”

I was nervous when sacrament meeting ended and my parents took Alison and me to our Primary classes. During class, I sat alone and didn’t say anything.

When my class walked down the hall to the Primary room for sharing time, I clutched my scriptures tightly. I still felt nervous. I stopped at the drinking fountain to get a drink of water, then went into the Primary room. It was bright and cheery and full of children. As the pianist played a song I had learned in my old ward, I felt a little better.

But as I looked around, I realized that I couldn’t find the other children in my class. I didn’t know where they had gone, and I didn’t have anyone to sit by. I glanced around the room again, biting my lower lip nervously.

Then, from the corner of the room, a little girl started grinning and waving her hands at me. She pointed to a seat next to her. I smiled back at her as I walked to the empty seat. She smiled her biggest smile—a smile so big that it showed the gaps where her two front teeth were missing and made her eyes disappear into little half-moons.

That little girl rescued me. She was the friend Heavenly Father had sent for me.

I decided that sisters were best friends.

[illustration] Illustrated by Julie F. Young

Angie Bergstrom Miller is a member of the Nampa 24th Ward, Nampa Idaho East Stake.